7 Civilians Killed, 20 Injured in Firing by Pakistani Rangers in J&K

Srinagar: Two young boys and a teenage girl were among the seven civilians killed on Tuesday when Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by shelling border hamlets and posts with mortar bombs along the Ramgarh sector at Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two women and man were among the other civilians who were killed in the cross border shelling in Paniyari village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district in what could be one of the biggest casualities on a single day.

The rise in death toll prompted the authorities to shift the villagers out of the area.

A police spokesperson said hundreds of residents were forced to abandon their homes near the border in the Samba district. They used every mode of conveyance, even walked barefoot, to escape from the line of fire.

The border residents were also worried about their harvest-ready crops. Authorities have set up temporary accommodations -- in educational institutions, rural development department buildings and community halls

Around 20 others were injured due to the intermittent firing along the border areas that has continued since last night.

"Pakistani Rangers started firing with small arms followed by mortars at one place and further spread to four or five places in Ramgarh and Arnia sectors of Samba and Jammu district from 0630 hours," DIG BSF (G) Dharmendra Parikh said.

"Infiltration attempts which are being foiled is directly facilitated by Pakistan so that terrorists can be pulled back," Parikh added.

They fired 82 mm mortar bombs intermittently, Parikh said, adding, BSF gave them a befitting reply.

A woman aged between 21 to 22 years died during shelling in a hamlet in Ramgarh sector of Samba district, SSP Samba Joginder Singh said.

On the LoC in Noushera sector of Rajouri, the Pakistan Army shelled various Indian positions.

Pakistani troops indulged in unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in Naushera sector of Rajouri district from 0530 hours using small arms, automatics, 82 and 120 mm mortars, PRO Defence Lt Col Manish Mehta said.

An army soldier was killed on Monday and two women were injured when Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts and villages using small arms and mortar shells along the Line of Control (LoC) in the twin frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistani troops had on Monday morning too violated ceasefire by firing on Indian positions and villages in the twin border districts.

Amid the ongoing Indo-Pak conflict, over 60 ceasefire violations have taken place ever since the Indian Army's surgical strikes against terrorist launch-pads in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir.

India accuses Pakistan of regularly violating the 2003 ceasefire agreement signed to maintain peace at borders and along the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan blames India for provoking the border tension.

Border skirmishes intensified after Pakistani militants attacked a military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, killing 19 Indian soldiers on September 18.

The Uri attack prompted the Indian Army to carry out a surgical strike that destroyed seven terror launch pads and killed an unknown number of terrorists and their sympathisers in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, across the LoC.

India shares 230 km of International Border and 740 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. The boundary, manned by the paramilitary BSF runs through Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, and the LoC, which is not an internationally-accepted frontier, cuts across other regions of the state.

(With inputs from IANS)